When it comes to defenders, timing is everything and few exponents of the
craft have mastered that aspect of their craft quite as precisely as
Bradford City centre-half Michael Nelson.

Last year he left Stockport County for Kilmarnock during the January transfer window and, within seven weeks of making his debut in their Scottish Communities League Cup semi-final victory over derby rivals Ayr United, he was part of the team which shocked Celtic by beating them 1-0 in the final.

Nelson, whose wife and family had remained in England wile he plied his trade north of the border, eventually tired of the separations and signed for League Two Bradford last month.

Their next match turned out to be the second leg of the Capital One semi-final against Aston Villa, when a 2-1 defeat saw the minnows prevail on a 4-3 aggregate.

Nelson has played in all of the club’s league fixtures since then and is hoping to go head-to-head with Swansea City’s Michu in Sunday’s final at Wembley.

The Spaniard may be behind only Robin van Persie and Luis Suarez in the Premier League scoring charts but Nelson considers satisfying the memorabilia demands of son Kyle may pose him more problems than snuffing out the season’s bargain buy this weekend.

“Last year at Hampden I managed to get him Fraser Forster’s gloves and he’s looking for something at least as good this time,” he said.

“He and my four-year-old, Finn, will be at the game with their Bradford strips on and it would be great if they could get on at the end if we win.

“That’s a big ask, though. We were massive underdogs against Celtic last year but we were at least in the same division: they were first and we were seventh.

“When you compare Swansea to Bradford, however, the gulf between us is enormous in terms of finance and everything else – we’re three divisions and 71 places below them.

“The money from this cup run will help City grow as a club but we’re not just going there to enjoy the day.

“No club from the bottom division in England has ever won a major trophy and we want to make history.”

Nelson claims that, having already taken the scalp of three top-tier clubs, self-belief is abundant at the Valley Parade.

“The lads have the belief because they’ve already beaten Wigan, Arsenal and Aston Villa,” he said.

“Some people expected Villa to wipe us out in the semi-final but the fact that it was decided over two games proved that it wasn’t a fluke result.

“The second leg came just after I signed and I’ve been an ever-present since then but I still don’t know whether the gaffer, Phil Parkinson, will keep me in the side or stick with the boys who got the club this far in the first place.

“I’ve been telling everyone in the dressing room about what happened at Hampden last year just to let them know that it can be done.”

Nelson may also prove to be something of a lucky charm for the Yorkshire club after his giant-killing exploits against Neil Lennon’s men last year.

“It was a pretty even game and I felt pretty comfortable throughout – apart from early on when Mo Sissoko rolled the ball across the 18-yard line for Gary Hooper!” he said.

“Fortunately, our goalkeeper, Cammy Bell – who would go on to win the man-of-the-match award – baled us out and that gave us confidence.

“Going into the game we were rank outsiders: Celtic were unbeaten in their previous 27 domestic games and no one gave us a chance.

“However, we went on to have quite a bit of the play and it also helped that Dieter van Tornhout scored the only goal quite late on.

“That shocked the Celtic lads and by the time they’d got their heads round the fact that they’d gone behind and sorted themselves out again, the game was almost over.”

Nelson admits, though, that he’d almost abandoned hope of walking out at Wembley.

“As a kid I always dreamed about playing in a major final at Wembley and I just hope that my experience from last year will help,” he said.

“I also played for Hartlepool United in the 2005 League One play-off final at the Millennium Stadium. We were 2-1 up with eight minutes to go but ended up losing in extra-time.

“Still, there can’t be too many players who’ve played in finals at all three grounds.”